The Criminals of Remnant
by f0bbdd8856794ab
Summary: So now that volume 3 has just ended and is no longer making changes to the RWBY timeline/universe. I finally got a chanhe to connect my OC's into the canon timeline. These guys are not huntsman but are instead some of Remnants most dangerous criminals. The second chapter in on its way so if you like this one please let me know and keep you eye out for the next (darker) chapter!
1. Chapter 1

**Team** **SAGE**

If you haven't heard of the White Fang than you must be living under a rock. The so-called Faunus rights group has grown increasingly violent over the last few years; leading many people to view them as a radical extremist group. This reputation is due, in no small part, to their ambitious leader and the three lowlifes who work under him. However they aren't the most manageable of underlings so Adam Taurus placed Shenda Nix in charge of the other two. Being a former gang leader (the biggest in Vacuo mind you) she was naturally suited to reigning in the crazies and the psychos, not that she liked to. Eugene was tolerable but Ghera was just _unbearable_. Take for instance the events of the rally about a year ago (as of RWBY vol 3) in Mistral when Adam gave them the orders. The White Fang had gained Intel about a train carrying valuable cargo from Atlas to Vale. Adam decided him and his partner would personally see to the _acquisition_ of said cargo and left Shenda to oversee the White Fang in Mistral.

"So then I punched the deathstalker in the face and. . . .", Shenda rolled her fingers against her temples as she was forced to listen to Ghera , sitting cross-legged on a side table by the door and eating a sprinkle covered cup of frozen yogurt, went on and on and on about what she did two days ago. She was always doing this- getting Ghera Fengari to talk was easy but getting her to shut up was near impossible. "Eventually the saxophone broke but I dodged just in time to get away. It was kind of- . She was cut off by Eugene entering the room. "Finally." said Shenda as Ghera, at last, stopped talking to greet Eugene. "Hey Eugene" she said with a smirking grin on her face. "Crazy." he greeted her with a hi- five. "Why are you here Eugene?" Shenda asked the orange clad hipster douche. "Sexy as ever Snowball," he responded. One thing about Mister Eugene Odomok was that he never used names. Everyone was some version of 'bro'- bra, broskey, broseph, etc. If you were someone worth remembering he just gave you some nickname and never called you anything else. The names varied, some making sense and others just being weird. Shenda was 'Snowball' because of her white coloring, Blake was 'Shadow' because of her semblance, and even Adam had been deemed 'Gingersnap' on account of his hair color. "I was wondering if you and Crazy needed any help with the meeting tomorrow night." "We should be fine on security but I've never objected to a little extra muscle before." She answered coyly. "I'm willing to bet you don't object to a lot of things" he said. "Only when the mood calls for it." She replied. "Is Adam still in Vale?" asked Ghera from her spot next to the door. "Yes, He and Blake are set to attack the train either today or tomorrow." Shenda answered, making sure to say Blake's name with just a hint of spite. "You know" said Eugene, "I never understood Gingersnap's taste in ladies, I mean who goes for the housecat when they've got a perfectly good snow tiger right in front of them" He gestured at Shenda. It was true, in a way; Shenda was what most guys dreamed of pale skin, yellow-green eyes, and bust that put other girls to shame. And she knew it too, often wearing a low cut black crop top with a matching mini skirt and knee high orange-red socks with heeled combat boots.

The recruitment rally went off without a hitch and the White Fang added fifty new soldiers to its ranks. After the meeting Shenda returned to the makeshift office they had in the back of the abandoned building and was about to change out of her stuffy uniform when Ghera walked into the room. "That went great! We got so many new recruits I always find it weird that Faunus make up such a small part of the population and yet every meeting we seem to find more people. It's kind of weird when you think about it." The wolf faunus babbled at what might as well have been the speed of light. "Fascinating" said Shenda dryly, her tail giving a twitch. "You have something on your shirt." Ghera said. "What" Shenda looked down and saw that she must have spilled water (or more likely the vodka in her water bottle) on her uniform. "Ugggghhhh" she went over to the shattered mirror on the wall and dabbed at the spot with a wet tissue. Seeing her mask in the mirror she gave yet another sigh of I-hate-myself-for-leaving- my mask- in-the-same-room-as-Ghera; she had broken her original in combat and after weeks of waiting for a new one she made the mistake of leaving it With Ghera who had used a bright red permanent marker to draw cat whiskers above the nose. "Are you still mad about the mask?" Ghera asked. _I swear_ Shenda thought, _sometimes it's as if those ears of hers pick up more than just sound._ There was a knock on the door and a soldier walked in followed by a recruit. "This one has a few questions. I figured he should talk to you." The soldier said in a no- nonsense voice. "Very well." Shenda responded," Wait by the door so you can show him the way back to the others when we're done." Shenda told the soldier. The soldier nodded and stepped aside to let the recruit through before closing the door. "What is it you want to discuss?" she asked the recruit. " Uh w-well I uh" the kid stuttered nervously. Shenda herself didn't look to frightening (if anything the whiskers on her mask made her look less so); The kid was probably intimidated by Ghera. Typically the bane of Shenda's existence wore her harmless looking combat gear: light gray tank top, dark gray vest, black jeans, metal-tipped combat boots. However, her uniform was a different story. She still had her boots, jeans, and shackle necklace she always wore, but she had ripped the sleeves off of her standard issue tunic (Shenda would have loved to cut a midriff in hers but the gang boss in her knew that a uniform seemed more respectable intact) and shortened the length in order to wrap her large morningstar around her waist and strap her hench 12-shot revolver to her thigh. That plus the cracks on her mask made her look rather terrifying. Yet the kid wasn't staring at Ghera so much as he was looking at the two wolves behind her. Beta and Fluffles were Ghera's 'family'; Beta being a robotic wolf made by Ghera's "buddy" stood about 4 feet tall and could unfold into a motorcycle and was programed with a state of the art AI (when Shenda asked Ghera why her buddy made Beta Ghera responded "because I needed a faster bike silly." But when she asked Beta he had responded "Mr. Northstar created me to serve a social outlet for Miss Fengari as a way of keeping her sanity within stable parameters.), Fluffles on the other hand stood 4" 7' and was an actual wolf. If the most terrifying wolf on the planet was somehow combined with the most derpy-looking wolf on the planet, that would be Fluffles: his stark white fur was always scruffy, he had two bloodshot red eyes, one of said eyes was a bit lazy with a scar down the right side of his face, his tongue hung out the side of his mouth, both ears were torn up, and he was covered in scars. Yet for some bizarre reason Ghera had found him as a puppy and named the demonic looking thing Fluffles. Eugene called her 'Crazy' for a reason.

"Don't mind them, they're harmless" Shenda told the recruit who at this point had begun to sweat a little. "What did you want to discuss?" she asked. "Uh right," said the kid, gaining his wits back. "Well you see it's just me and my little sister right now and well I joined for her and I want to help in any way that I can but I was wondering if I could stay in Mistral to look after her and well "lemme stop you there" Shenda interrupted. "Do you have good ears?" She asked him. "Uh what?" "I said do you have good eats? Are you a good listener? Can you retain information well? Can you keep secrets?" "Uh y-yes m-ma'am" he stuttered. Shenda walked over to the desk ripped a got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down her scroll number. She folded it up and handed it to the kid. "Memorize this number then burn the paper. I'm stationing you here in Mistral as an informant. Any useful information you hear, you call that number and report it understand?" she said. "Yes ma'am" he replied. "If anyone tries to move you tell them that Nix personally stationed you here and that they need to talk with me." She gave a coy smile "I'd hate to leave your sister all alone in the world." The kid grinned back "Thank you ma'am!" he stated as he opened the door to return to the other new recruits. _I know more than most what it's like to be left alone in the world_ she thought as they left. Before the door had fully closed, Eugene came rushing in. "We have a problem Snowball" he said handing her a letter. Because his mask covered the lower half of his face instead of the usual upper half, his voice sounded deeper than it was and showed off his yellow slitted eyes, giving him an air of authority he didn't usually possess. "What is it?" asked Ghera as Shenda took the letter from Eugene. "That just arrived from Adam." He said pointing at the letter. "Is it about Blake leaving?" Ghera questioned. "Doubt it," Eugene said "The carrier just arrived from Vale via public transport. He had strict orders to deliver it directly to one of us- Nix, Odomok, or Fengari. Gingersnap even gave the kid descriptions of our masks so he could spot us out." Shenda looked at Ghera and both looked at the envelope. This was serious if Adam went to those lengths. You see these three weren't your typical White Fang. They held no actual rank or status rather they were like Adam's last resort; the people he called for jobs and missions he wanted done discreetly or the ones normal soldiers couldn't handle. Their combat skill was equal to that of the huntsman and they took order only from Adam himself. If he had given their names and descriptions to a carrier then whatever he was carrying was extremely secret, extremely important, or both. Shenda opened the envelope and scanned her eyes over the letter, the mask concealing them as they grew wider and wider. "Get the lieutenant." She ordered Eugene. Without hesitation he opened the door and yelled at a soldier down the hall to fetch her. As soon as the lieutenant arrived Shenda handed her the letter to read; its contents should not be spoken allowed where someone might hear. When the lieutenant had finished she handed it to Ghera who in turn handed it to Eugene. Once they had all read it Beta incinerated the fragile paper. "This is serious" stated the lieutenant, "three teenagers took out the entire camp?! And threatened the lives of all of us?" "I could ask them to reconsider." Ghera offered. "No." said Shenda "if we knew it was only these three then I would agree but if they're working for someone a bloodbath could be more trouble than it's worth." "Then what are we supposed to do?" Eugene asked. Shenda leaned back against the desk and thought about it. Back in her gang days she often had to do this kind of thinking-go over everything you know, connect the dots, figure out the other guy's plan and use it against them. She took a deep breath "We do as we're told and help the plan." She said finally. "Lieutenant, you resume control of things here in Mistral. Ghera, Eugene, Adam says he'll need airships. You two are in charge of commandeering some." They looked at her with a mix of confusion and disbelief- she was going along with these people!? "We can't act on them without knowing their endgame. All we know is that plan to infiltrate the Vytal festival and lead an attack. Ghera, call your buddy in Vale and see if he's noticed anything unusual activity." "On it." Ghera replied. "Do you want me to call my bro?" asked Eugene. "Do you think he'll know anything?" Shenda asked back. "The guy knows every outfit from Vale to Vacuo and has contacts who know the rest. If these guys are working somebody he's the one to ask about it." "Good. Give him a call. See if he can find out whom they work for or who trained them. These three took out an entire camp they must have learned somewhere." "What are you gonna do?" asked the lieutenant. Shenda looked at them "Adam said their planning to infiltrate the Vytal festival. Given they're combat ability the tournament is probably how they plan on doing so; It gives them an alibi and access to the academy. They're going to have to pose as huntsman students which means they'll have to say they're from one of only four schools. Beacon is out of the question as Vale is hosting the festival and aliases are easier to maintain when you pretend to be from out of town." Ghera chimed in, "Atlas has too much internal surveillance and security. They'll know immediately if someone is posing as one of their students." "That just leaves Shade academy is Vacuo and Haven academy here in Mistral." The lieutenant said. "Shade has been on high alert since the team DJIN incident two years ago." Eugene said, "They could try to pose from there but it could pose a slight risk." Beta piped up "If these individuals are planning an operation as large as I calculate, they will want to avoid all unnecessary complications." Shenda nodded, "Precisely, which means their safest bet is Haven here in Mistral. While you two get the airships I'll stay here and keep an eye on the academy. I know of a few places where students like to hang out; I'll keep my ears open for any information they might drop. If I can find out who goes to the festival we can use that to figure out how they plan to sneak in which should hopefully leave a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow." "Sounds like a plan" said the lieutenant, "Give me a list of those places and I'll tell the recruits to avoid them, wouldn't want any of them of accidently blow your cover." "Will do" said Shenda. The list was given and everyone departed. The warehouse was wiped of any evidence the White Fang had ever been there. The next day . . . it begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Clans**

War leaves scars. Some wars leave few scars, some leave many; some scars cut deep and leave lasting marks, some only scratch the skin. The Great War that ravaged Remnant left its scars. Some, like the huntsman academies, were good and helped bring the world into a new and brighter age; But others, like the Seven Clans, only served as reminders that the darkness wasn't entirely gone.

During the war the clan leaders and been called War Lords with the clan members serving as their armies. Their techniques and fighting style was unmatched by even the strongest warriors of the kingdoms. They profited from the fighting and bloodshed; small towns and villages hiring them to kill Grimm or other small towns and villages. The clans' strength came from their fighting style, preferring their own aura as opposed to the more widely accepted dust. They developed aura techniques so advanced and powerful some called it magic and in a way, they were right. Each clan specialized in a different style but each style was far beyond what the kingdoms were capable of. When the war ended the clans faced a problem; their techniques were thousands of years old, perfected by generations of clan fighters and forgers. They saw how quickly the kingdoms were pushing the war behind them and knew that forgetting the war was the first step toward repeating the centuries of blood and death. So they hid themselves from the new world and became Its shadow- the scar that would remind them of the darkness they were so eager to forget. Their numbers dwindled but their power didn't. But it seemed that not everything is meant to be remembered as decades after the war ended, the clans were wiped out due to a combined attack by all four kingdoms in a show of unity and comradery. Or at least, that's the official story.

Before you learn the truth about how the Seven Clans fell you need to know how the clans worked. The clans used to be a family business but when the war ended very few family members remained. Seven brothers, sisters, and cousins remained to lead a new generation of warriors in the ways of aura and battle. As was clan custom the Seven each chose three titles to serve as generals; the first title took the name of his/her clan's most valued trait (ie. ''the Honor of the First'' ''the Strength of the Fourth'' etc.) and was usually chosen to be the next leader, the second title used to protect their clan from other war lords but after the war served to protect the clans from the kingdoms and any other human threat; finally there were the third titles , nicknamed "Grimm Lords" by their peers, they were the most ferocious warrior of their clan trained specifically for the purpose of defeating elder grimm [author's note: I'm using the term "elder grimm" to refer to grimm like the dragon from vol 3]. These warriors served directly under the leaders and also worked as an internal police force to ensure the clans' secrets never fell into the wrong hands. The clans were a family of outcasts and runaways; they were loyal to the death and incredibly devoted to their purpose as warriors, assassins, and shadows. At least, most of them were.

The youngest of the Seven leaders, leader of the seventh, grew power-hungry and decided to get rid of the other leaders and their followers and start a new clan with himself as the only leader. He sent an anonymous message to the four kingdoms saying that he was an informant for the clans who wanted to turn his life around but the clans were threatening his children leaving him helpless. Along with his pathetic sob story he included the exact location of the clans' base as well as a date when claimed he would poison the Seven leaders, making them unable to fight. Under normal circumstances the kingdoms would have disregarded this Intel as some sort of joke due to its suspicious nature. But the Seventh had planned this just right; the clans had been a serious danger to the peace for decades and with the recent discovery/destruction of the Mantle labor camp, the kingdoms were cocky and itching for some more good publicity. The plans were made. On the day of the attack, the Seventh as well as the other leaders were scheduled for training and went out into the jungle. . . . alone. The Seventh had with him his weapon, which he had modified for a very special occasion. However his First Title, The Knowledge of the Seventh, had caught onto his plan and quickly went to warn the leaders. When he realized they had already left he turned to the other titles for help. He informed them that his mentor had betrayed his kin and that the kingdoms were set to strike that day

The attack was led by the Atlas military with troops from the other kingdoms providing support and reinforcements. There was even a handful of huntsman and Huntresses who joined the fight against the Clans. The kingdoms had a force of over five thousand; the Clans had one hundred and seventeen. The battle lasted for fifteen days and was fought on the harshest of terrain. The clans had the home field advantage and their incredible aura techniques. The kingdoms had the superior numbers and their highly advanced weapons. The Grimm came on the first night, drawn by the grief and anger of battle. The morning of the third day kingdom personnel caused a mass rockslide, killing any remaining clan forces. After six hours of fighting off the grimm, the kingdoms of Remnant declared the Seven Clans destroyed and seven hundred and thirty-two soldiers got to return home and celebrate with family and friends.

But four remained. Four title holders, who had spent the last seventy-two hours fighting bath man and grimm in the harsh jungle, who had depleted every last drop of their aura, who had barely survived remained at the site of the rockslide. There were some at the bottom who were still alive but who were slowly succumbing to their injuries. These who suffered were given an honorable and quick death by the Tittle holders. Two hundred and thirteen graves were dug out. Some contained only pieces and others remained empty save for a weapon or headstone. Two hundred and seventeen warriors and fought a battle for three days straight. Four survivors walked away, into the world whey had sworn to become the shadows of. Only one thought lingered on their minds- the Seventh leader was alive and they were going to find him and they were going to kill him.

Elph sat at her desk, Hans was standing behind her. The two of them were watching the broadcast that had taken over every channel, an elder grimm had emerged in Vale and the Atlesian knights had turned on the huntsmen. She saw the Grimm head for Beacon academy and soon after the feed was cut, the CCT tower must have fallen. She reached under her desk and flipped the switch that connected her house to the backup network Pierre had given her access to. The Northstar emblem appeared on her screen with a box for her to enter a key code. She entered the code and the emblem vanished, replaced with her normal desktop. "What do we do." Asked Hans in that chilling voice of his. Very calmly Elph answered, "We call the others." And picked up her scroll. She sent a message the only two people who had access to the second Network and then placed her hands on the top of her desk. Hans two placed a hand on and the two connected to the Northstar Network's neural interface. They appeared as two green figures in a pitch black room; Elph being a much lighter shade than Hans's deep evergreen. A few seconds later they were joined by a red figure and a golden figure. "Are you alight?" Elph asked the golden one. "I'm fine. I've got a bunker under my shop for situations like this."[author's note: the gold figure speak with a somewhat cockney British accent] He replied. "Will you be leaving Vale?" the red asked him. "oh c'mon Jared you know me better than that. It'll take more than a few little beowulves to scare me off." The gold replied, "Besides we've got more pressing issues at the moment". He turned towards Elph. "Pierre is right, this incident is going to lead to mass chaos and distrust among the kingdoms. Especially towards Atlas." She said, "Now is the perfect time to look for him." "Should we take care of the elder Grimm?" Jared asked. "No need, I was watching the tournament and noticed that one of the competitors had silver eyes. If not her than one of the seasonal maidens will take out the Elder, Beacon's headmaster is an important member of their little circle." Elph responded. Pierre spoke up "That broadcast wasn't a coincidence, someone planned this". "Do you think it's him?" Hand asked. "Unlikely." Jared said, "The Seventh is many things but he's not insane; He wouldn't release an Elder grimm and then have some girl make a speech about it. Besides, the broadcast seemed to point fingers at professor Ozpin and the Seventh has no reason to go after him." "Someone else is playing this game" Pierre said "Someone who had a lot of time to think this through." "None of this matters" Elph stated. The others turned to look at her. She looked back at them. "The White Fang were involved. Do you think this might be connected to what Beta and Eugene asked about a few months ago?" she asked them. Pierre responded, "I found a name to match our lady in red, Cinder Fall. She and two others attacked the Fall maiden a while back, stole a fraction of her power. The guy is Mercury Black, Marcus's son and a high-level assassin. The green-haired one is Emerald Sustri, a former street thief form Mistral. They posed as Haven students to get into the tournament and coerced Roman Torchwick and his partner to aid them in their little escapade." "What matters" Elph said "is that the kingdoms are distracted. Now is the time for him to start planning and setting up without being noticed. This also means that now is our best chance to find him before he causes another massacre." "Elph's right." Jared said, "He won't make a move until he gets to be the only one in the spotlight. He'll use this chaos as a time to plan and prepare for his big comeback." They were all quiet for a few seconds. Then Pierre spoke, "If he is going to make a comeback he'll need manpower and weapons. I'll keep a lookout for any suspicious activity on that front. Although, it will be tricky with the CCT down." "You'll manage." Jared said, "In the meantime I'll look for him on the financial front, see if any new players have appeared on the scene trying to get as much money as they can as quick as possible. He can't expect to hire an army without any money." "Good," said Elph "even without the CCT my influence is still strong. If he does anything on this continent I'll be the first to know." She took a deep breath and looked at the three of them. "We are nearing the endgame. He will wait until the kingdoms are united again, cleaning up the ashes and reopening their schools, before makes his play. We must not let our guard down and let him know we're onto him or he might attack the kingdoms sooner or go underground again. As long as we act cautiously and have patience we can find him and take him down without the kingdoms ever noticing." They nodded in agreement.

Pierre was the first to leave with Jared following soon after. Elph and Hans left the interface and took their hands off the desk. "What now" he asked her. "Now we continue with business as usual." Hans nodded and left the office. Elph turned her chair around to face the large window that covered the wall. On one hand she rested her chin, he other rested upon the hilt of her sword. A storm was brewing over the rocky forest and she listened to the distant rumbling of thunder. As lightning flashes over the trees she couldn't help but smile. _Patience_ she told herself. She wasn't the girl she had been six years ago; now she was twenty-one, a full-fledged adult. She had already dug enough graves to many lifetimes but she could easily dig one more. Elph thought about the Seventh, about plunging her sword through his heart, about ripping his head off, about holding his head under water, about burning him alive. Another flash of lightning cracked through the sky and Elph Westwood smiled. She felt the hilt of her sword; it had bees six years since she had last unsheathed it but her skills had only improved. Every day she had trained with the techniques her master had taught her, both with her blade and her aura. _Patience_ she told herself. She waved her fingers slightly. The stone floor rippled slightly and three thin black tendrils drifted up and formed a small table. The tea set she kept on her desk floated over; the saucer and cup sat on the newly-formed table as the teapot filled the cup then returned to the desk. Elph picked up the cup and took a sip. In a way, people were right when they called the clans' techniques magic, they certainly looked the part. Elph gazed at the storm as it grew stronger and fiercer. They were nearing the endgame. Once this fire died down and kingdoms were working together to sweep away the ashes he would make his move. Once he made his move they would make theirs. Jared would channel his darkness, Pierre would use his weapon instead of enhance it, Hans would show his scar, and Elph would unsheathe her sword after six long years. _Enjoy this fire while it lasts_ she thought to the kingdoms. _Because once the flames die out the ashes will be blown away and cover the ground._ She smiled and took another sip. _Soon_ she thought _after six years of hiding in the light the shadows will rise once more._ A bright flash of lightning illuminated the room and for just one split second, one could have seen a green hand clutching the hilt of a sword.

It's true. After six long years of waiting; the shadows will rise.


End file.
